I picked a rare fern over a rare orchid at the greenhouse sale...

So I was at the Johnson County Master Gardener plant sale last Saturday. They had this beautiful blue orchid for $35 and a little Maidenhair Spleenwort fern on the discount table for $8. I stood there for like 10 minutes going back and forth. Ended up grabbing the fern because it looked half dead and I felt bad for it. Got it home, repotted it, gave it some filtered light. Two weeks later it's putting out new fronds like crazy. Has anyone else gone with the underdog plant and had it surprise you?

2 comments

2 Comments

lucasking1mo ago

My aunt has a rule about always buying the saddest plant in the nursery. She says they've got the most fight left in them. She grabbed a shriveled up snake plant from a clearance rack once that looked like a dried out green shoelace. Three years later that thing is pushing out babies in every direction and she has to give them away to neighbors. I think there's something to plants that have been through a rough patch. They already know how to bounce back. Yours sounds like it's gonna be a beast.

gray_roberts1mo ago

Ha, I guess that explains why my houseplants all look like they're auditioning for a funeral. I keep buying the healthy ones and somehow they still end up looking sad. Maybe I should try the clearance rack strategy - at least then I'd know what I'm getting into.